What's so stressful about campus life?

A new study that examines the top concerns of University of Alberta students suggests little has changed over the past seven years: the biggest worries continue to be romance, finances, and getting a job.

Conducted by the U of A Student Counselling Services, the 2000/2001 Student Life Survey tracked the same issues measured in a 1995 student survey. The report is based on interviews conducted with about 1,500 U of A students. Although direct comparisons between the two surveys aren't accurate because of changes in methodology, both present similar results.

In both cases the top three stress-related concerns are the same: 90 per cent of students have faced difficulties in adjusting to university and have wrestled with receiving bad grades; and approximately 60 per cent have struggled to deal with a broken romantic relationship.

Dr. Howard Saslove, director of Student Counselling Services, says he isn't surprised that students struggle to adapt to life on campus, especially if they've moved here from a smaller centre. And though services are made available to students, sometimes they are overlooked and not used.

"It's tough if you haven't lived anywhere else but with your parents," he said. "Think of the average 18 year-old during orientation. How many of them are going to walk up to the counselling booth with all their peers standing around?"

And then there is the issue of international students, he adds.

"Those students have to adjust to a new country and a new language: never mind the studies - what's a 'winter coat'?"

He added that, while some areas of concern for students haven't changed in the past five years, there are some programs that go a long way in making university life, particularly the transition into life on campus, easier.

"There are different ways to make people feel more comfortable. The Week of Welcome is one of them. This campus is a large place, and if you're going to make the adjustment, it's a good place to start."

"A lot of people come here because it is their last hope. People have lied to their families, telling them they're not failing when they are. Other people will come in here after getting their degree in, say, engineering, and they don't want to become an engineer. They did what their parents wanted them to do.

"I'd like some way of getting the message out that you don't have to wait. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Saslove said he had hoped a recent Senate task force report on wellness on campus would have paid more attention to mental health issues. He says the task force report's focus on physical wellness is admirable, but that it misses an important part of health.

"I think mental health is under-represented in the report," he said. "You can add more bike trails and gym lockers, and you can ban smoking. But it's harder to improve mental health. It's harder to implement programs and evaluate them than it is to take care of the more concrete, physical health stuff - and there is still a stigma around mental health issues."

That stigma appears not only in institutions, Saslove says, but also in cultures.

"In some cultures, you just don't go to get help for mental health or emotional problems - it's a sign of weakness," he said. The attitude is telling. If a person suffers a visible injury, such as a broken leg, they immediately seek out medical attention, and the cast draws attention to the injury. But people are reluctant to seek help for emotional problems.

Because of that, Saslove says, it's important that help be offered. And, he added it's everyone's responsibility to help members of the campus community.

"A community is a place where, if you notice someone in your class or sitting next to you who seems to be having problems, the appropriate intervention is to simply say: 'Hey, are you OK?' It doesn't take an expert to do that. We lose that important sense of community by relying on other people to do things that are just common civility."

The study made several suggestions to improve life on campus, including a week off for students during the fall semester. Saslove said he isn't optimistic this will happen any time soon. And he doesn't personally endorse the idea.

"It's an interesting idea, for sure. But it would take away a week of class time, and it would dilute the integrity of some course work and a lot of professors say there is little enough time in a semester anyway," he said.

"Right now the break is towards the end of the school year, and although research results show there is no difference in stress between one term and the next, it makes sense that over the course of a year that a break like this would be needed more towards the end of the year than at the beginning."

Student Counselling Services is holding an open house Nov. 6 to help give members of the campus community a better idea of the services it provides and to raise awareness around common mental health issues.